18-IB26 5/25/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Ms. Jennifer Hill re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Office of Management and Budget
Petitioner alleged that the Office of Management and Budget violated FOIA by denying her request for the proposals received by OMB from companies seeking to sell voting systems to the State and denying public access to vendor demonstrations of the systems to an evaluation team. At the time of publication, the procurement decision is pending. DECIDED: It is a violation of FOIA to deny in whole a request made for bids received during the procurement process. A public body may provide such records, subject to review and redaction as permitted by FOIA. A vendor demonstration does not constitute a meeting of a public body, and therefore it was not a FOIA violation to close the demonstrations to the public.
Read More18-IB25 5/15/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Eric Keebler re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Newark
Petitioner alleged that the City of Newark violated FOIA by not responding to his request for records within the required timeframe. DECIDED: Because the City provided a response, the petition is moot.
Read More18-IB24 5/4/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Atnre Alleyne re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Department of Education
Petitioner alleged that the Department of Education violated FOIA by citing the pending litigation exemption to justify withholding requested emails. DECIDED: The litigation exemption may apply, but DOE has not reviewed the individual emails to determine whether any may not be exempt. By failing to do so and instead broadly denying the entire request, DOE violated FOIA.
Read More18-IB23 5/4/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Ms. Amy Roe re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the City of Newark
Petitioner alleged that Newark City Council members’ individual private meetings with a consultant constituted a serial quorum in violation of FOIA. DECIDED: Because the meetings did not involve discussion among a quorum of the council, no FOIA violation was found.
Read More18-IB22 5/1/2018 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Randall Chase re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Office of Defense Services
Petitioner alleged that the Office of Defense Services violated FOIA by withholding requested information on the costs of a defense in current litigation. DECIDED: The wholesale denial of the request violated FOIA.
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